The trial of a former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, who is
\nbeing prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on
\na 23-count charge bordering on money laundering and diversion of funds,
\ncontinued with the anti-graft agency presenting its witness before Justice
\nAdebukola Banjoko, of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Court, High
\nCourt, Gudu, Abuja.<\/p>\n
Dariye is accused of diverting about N1.2 billion from the state\u2019s
\nEcological Fund, to private companies and individuals.<\/p>\n
Led in evidence by prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, the EFCC
\nwitness, Musa Sunday, a detective with the EFCC, provided details into the
\nfindings of the investigative team that probed the allegations against
\nDariye.<\/p>\n
Sunday told the court that the EFCC had in September 2004 received a
\npetition from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF,
\nto wit the UK Metropolitan Police requested assistance of the Nigerian
\nGovernment in investigating some companies linked to Dariye.<\/p>\n
“The petition of the UK Metropolitan Police was sent by the AGF to the
\nEFCC, and it was subsequently referred to my team,” he said.<\/p>\n
He told the court that the team immediately swung into action to
\ninvestigate the banks \u2013 All State Trust Bank, Lion Bank (now Diamond
\nBank), companies and individuals allegedly involved in the fraud.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the All State Trust Bank we discovered an account whose signatory was
\nHaruna Dariye, but upon further investigation, we found out that the
\nsignatory was actually the defendant (Joshua Dariye),” he said.<\/p>\n
According to him, it was discovered that the mandate of the account at the
\nbank, had no passport photo on it, but upon interrogation of the bank
\nmanager, it was discovered that Dariye owned the account and had on
\nopening it, requested for a waiver, which enabled him to open it without
\nfollowing the due process of affixing his passport photo on the mandate
\nform.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe obtained the instruments used to open the account with the bank and
\nupon forensic examination, it was confirmed that the signatory to the
\naccount was Dariye,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Report of the forensic unit, confirming the signature to be that of Dariye
\nwas accepted as exhibit by the court.<\/p>\n
Sunday further told the court, that investigations revealed that Dariye
\ninstructed the bank to disburse the money meant for the state\u2019s Ecological
\nFund, into private companies that included Ebenezer Ratnen Ventures and
\nPinnacle Communications Limited, instead of paying the money into the
\nPlateau State Government account.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe studied the accounts linked to Ebenezer Ratnen Ventures with the bank,
\nand discovered financial inflows including money from the Ecological
\nFund,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The handwritten instruction asking the bank to disburse N1.162 billion to
\nthe companies was tendered as exhibit in the court.<\/p>\n
Although G. S. Pwul, SAN, counsel to Dariye contended the admissibility of
\nthe handwritten instruction, Justice Banjoko overruled and accepted it as
\nexhibit.<\/p>\n
Justice Banjoko thereafter adjourned till January 26, 2015 for
\ncontinuation of the trial, expressing her determination to ensure a speedy
\ndetermination of the case.<\/p>\n
It would be recalled that since his first arraignment on July 13, 2007 at
\nthe Federal High Court, Abuja, Dariye employed all means known to law to
\nfrustrate his trial.<\/p>\n
Following his \u201cplea of not guilty\u201d to the charges preferred against him,
\nthe court\u00a0 had set aside November 13, 2007 for the prosecution to open its
\ncase.<\/p>\n
On the date fixed for trial to commence, Dariye filed a motion before the
\ncourt praying for an order to quash the 23-count charge preferred against
\nhim on diverse grounds, including lack of locus standi to prosecute him
\nand jurisdiction to hear and determine the case.<\/p>\n
Dariye\u2019s application was dismissed by the court on December 10, 2007. He
\nproceeded on appeal, which also suffered the same fate on June 17, 2010.<\/p>\n
Not satisfied, the former governor proceeded to the Supreme Court on July
\n13, 2010.<\/p>\n
The apex court in its judgment delivered on February 27, 2015 found the
\nappeal to be lacking in merit and consequently dismissed it and ordered
\nthe court to commence expeditious trial of the former governor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The trial of a former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a 23-count charge bordering on money…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n